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Audit: More erosion inspectors necessary

Current enforcers overworked

Posted: Wednesday, June 15, 2005

By Blake Auedblake.aued@onlineathens.com

A recently completed audit agrees with Athens-Clarke County erosion enforcers' request for more help upholding environmental laws on construction sites, which they say is necessary to fight pollution and avoid state sanctions.

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Athens-Clarke Auditor John Wolfe's report confirms earlier claims by David Clark, director of transportation and public works, that his department's inspectors are overworked and responsible for too many sites. It also confirms that inspectors are taking a harder line on developers and contractors who violate environmental laws.

The department's three inspectors - whose job is to catch violations of state and local laws meant to protect rivers and streams from muddy, polluted runoff from commercial and apartment construction sites - check more than twice the ideal number of sites, according to Wolfe.

Inspectors are responsible for an average of 48 projects each, compared to the 20 recommended by the state Environmental Protection Division.

Two new inspectors would bring the average number of projects per inspector below 30.

Although inspectors are stretched thin, Wolfe found they also are issuing more citations. The department issued only one citation in 2004, he wrote, but in January through May 2005 had already handed out more than 30.

Clark said in April he told inspectors to stop giving warnings and start giving tickets to show the EPD that the department is serious about enforcing sedimentation and erosion laws.

The transportation and public works department asked the Athens-Clarke Commission earlier this year for about $110,000 to hire two new inspectors after the EPD threatened to take away the county's permitting and enforcement powers. That request "appears reasonable," according Wolfe.

County commissioners delayed a decision on Clark's request in May and asked Wolfe to prepare an audit, then deferred action again last week to give other county officials a chance to weigh in. A response to the audit should be ready by the end of the month, according to County Manager Alan Reddish, which would give commissioners a chance to act in August.

EPD officials already have informally agreed with Clark's plan, but are waiting for commissioners to approve it before they formally back off the threat to rescind the county's enforcement authority.

Wolfe also recommends:

 Increasing inspections from once every seven days to every five days.

 Inspecting all sites before issuing a construction permit to be sure that all waterways are identified in development plans.

The Athens-Clarke Building Inspections and Permits Department and the Community Protection Division also enforce environmental laws, but they are not seeking more inspectors, and the audit did not go into detail about those departments.